Why can't Rania do anything abut landmines? She can bring attention to the problem and chair awareness campaigns, raise funding to help get rid of landmines, or raise funding to help those who have been hurt by landmines.

That's avery good and valid question, Genevieve.

I think most royals pick certain areas that they want to get involved in. For example you might have noted that Princess Mary of Denmark has picked mental health as one of the areas she wants to focus on and heart disease as this has special significance for her. I think it is about focusing on something rather than being involved in too many things.

At the onset Queen Rania picked the following areas that she wanted to be involved in:

the protection of children against violence
promotion of family safety
Information Technology
development of income-generating projects
early childhood development

These are the core issues and from them stem various projects and initiatives. In my last post I mentioned some of the organizations the Queen is involved in. They also give you an idea of what her focus is.

The landmines has been taken up by Queen Noor. She probably got involved from my memory around late 1997 and early 1998 when she was still Jordan's First Lady. As Queen Noor is already involved in the landmines issue, Queen Rania probably didn't want to infringe on that and I think most people would say Queen Noor has done an excellent job in that area since Princess Diana's death. Queen Rania has supported the Red Cross and the Red Crescent, which also deals with this particualr issue of landmines quite vocally. She has attended fundraising events in Britain for the Red Cross and spoken at the first plenary meeting session of the 28th International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent in Geneva in December 2003. I actually have that speech and will upload it to the Articles and Speeches thread we have going.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Genevieve

There is plenty Rania can do - if only she actually cared or wanted to.

Oh I think she does. I have been following Queen Rania and her work closely since 2002. Every appearance that she has made is meaningful and raises awareness of the issues she is supporting and encouraging. I think for you to make such a statement gives me the impression that you have only a cursory knowledge of what she actually does.

Why don't we let other members judge for themselves about the charities Rania is affiliated. To tell them to not learn more about the charities Rania is affiliated with defeats the point of the thread which monamona started, which is to learn about the great works of Rania. You can't criticize someone fairly if you do not know as much about them is possible.

I think she can start by wearing jordanian made clothing when attending engagements in Jordan. if she doesn't find an outfit she likes, maybe she can pick out material she's interested in and find a professional seamstress to sew her an outfit to her liking. Although this may have very little impact on the local economy, its a start. she's representing the people of jordan and should not be ashamed to wear cultural/national outfits.

I think she can start by wearing jordanian made clothing when attending engagements in Jordan. if she doesn't find an outfit she likes, maybe she can pick out material she's interested in and find a professional seamstress to sew her an outfit to her liking. Although this may have very little impact on the local economy, its a start. she's representing the people of jordan and should not be ashamed to wear cultural/national outfits.

I think that's an excellent suggestion, bubbles. It would also show the rest of the world more of the cultural sides of Jordan.

I didnt want to comment in this thread as long as I didnt beleive in the topic but when I saw other's opinions same as mine I decided to give my opinion too,this may be a little off topic but I wanna tell you how the way we think and our opinions about some1 re influenced strongly by propaganda.
I'm sure everyone including myself think that she's the most beautiful,the most fashionable and the most elegangt individual we know but I tell you the fist time I saw her she neither looked beautiful nor elegant not just to me but also to my colleagues(I later asked them and all of them said that she looked quiet ordinary).the only thing that caught my eyes was how she looked thin,rather like a human skeleton!
we were not told who she's so I just thught it was another rich women coming to donate,,although she didnt look wealthy at all!!!!!!!
to be fair I have to say that she really looked kind or at least tried to be kind and warm.
my dad was in US at the time and he told me about her visit(newspapers here never write about royalties)I was surprised to I find out that she was Jordan's queen,I didnt know jordan had a queen,I knew about malik Abdullah but I always thought his wife must be covered in veil from top to tows like arab ladies I'd seen before,anyway later I serached the web to know more about her and again I was surprised by the way she dressed and other's opinions about her,the first time I read she's pretty my eyebrows were raised but nowadays after a year reading more that 1000 times that she's beautiful she looks beautiful and elegant to me too!
about her work I cant say that she's done nothing for Jordan but I dont think of her as a hardworking queen,I can say that she could have done things in a better way.I cant believe she is engaged to work with the list Baliqis has given,that's too much and impossible for one person to do so much,isnt it the propaganda that I was telling?if she's realy done that much so why are the the poverty and cultural problems like honor killing rising everyday in jordan?where's the result of that much work?
as I said before if she's done so much for jordan it's because jordanian have given so much,I'm sure if she was the queen of our country she'd be in exile by now,and I hope such a thing never lands on her.

In ME, the royal families always love to send one kind of message to their population: the RF do everything … a king doesnt' mention the name of his prime minister in any kind of interview/speech/etc, he doesn't say clearly that decisions were taken with his prime minister/government, and never an intellectual woman can take the spot-light from the queen or the princesses ... it’s always the RF genius ideas …

yes, I was wrong about the landmines, thought that landmines were too political an issue for a queen and then found that Noor was already active while being one:

Jordan Times

Sunday, July 12, 1998

Queen: Jordan to sign Ottawa anti-landmines convention

By Hind-Lara Mango

AMMAN — Her Majesty Queen Noor yesterday announced that Jordan will sign the 1997 Ottawa Convention prohibiting the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel (AP) landmines, becoming the 128th country to do so.
Rania is probably leaving this to Noor since she started it.

from posting balqis:
[/QUOTE]
The landmines has been taken up by Queen Noor. She probably got involved from my memory around late 1997 and early 1998 when she was still Jordan's First Lady. As Queen Noor is already involved in the landmines issue, Queen Rania probably didn't want to infringe on that and I think most people would say Queen Noor has done an excellent job in that area since Princess Diana's death. Queen Rania has supported the Red Cross and the Red Crescent, which also deals with this particualr issue of landmines quite vocally. She has attended fundraising events in Britain for the Red Cross and spoken at the first plenary meeting session of the 28th International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent in Geneva in December 2003. I actually have that speech and will upload it to the Articles and Speeches thread we have going."
[/QUOTE]

I didnt want to comment in this thread as long as I didnt beleive in the topic but when I saw other's opinions same as mine I decided to give my opinion too,this may be a little off topic but I wanna tell you how the way we think and our opinions about some1 re influenced strongly by propaganda.
I'm sure everyone including myself think that she's the most beautiful,the most fashionable and the most elegangt individual we know but I tell you the fist time I saw her she neither looked beautiful nor elegant not just to me but also to my colleagues(I later asked them and all of them said that she looked quiet ordinary).the only thing that caught my eyes was how she looked thin,rather like a human skeleton!
we were not told who she's so I just thught it was another rich women coming to donate,,although she didnt look wealthy at all!!!!!!!
to be fair I have to say that she really looked kind or at least tried to be kind and warm.
my dad was in US at the time and he told me about her visit(newspapers here never write about royalties)I was surprised to I find out that she was Jordan's queen,I didnt know jordan had a queen,I knew about malik Abdullah but I always thought his wife must be covered in veil from top to tows like arab ladies I'd seen before,anyway later I serached the web to know more about her and again I was surprised by the way she dressed and other's opinions about her,the first time I read she's pretty my eyebrows were raised but nowadays after a year reading more that 1000 times that she's beautiful she looks beautiful and elegant to me too!
about her work I cant say that she's done nothing for Jordan but I dont think of her as a hardworking queen,I can say that she could have done things in a better way.I cant believe she is engaged to work with the list Baliqis has given,that's too much and impossible for one person to do so much,isnt it the propaganda that I was telling?if she's realy done that much so why are the the poverty and cultural problems like honor killing rising everyday in jordan?where's the result of that much work?
as I said before if she's done so much for jordan it's because jordanian have given so much,I'm sure if she was the queen of our country she'd be in exile by now,and I hope such a thing never lands on her.

Cute Girl: balqis is part of rania's propaganda's system PERIOD S/he can go on and on.....

Why don't we let other members judge for themselves about the charities Rania is affiliated. To tell them to not learn more about the charities Rania is affiliated with defeats the point of the thread which monamona started, which is to learn about the great works of Rania. You can't criticize someone fairly if you do not know as much about them is possible.

What is the purpose of having similar threads? Why was this one started when there already is an existing one?

I didnt want to comment in this thread as long as I didnt beleive in the topic but when I saw other's opinions same as mine I decided to give my opinion too,this may be a little off topic but I wanna tell you how the way we think and our opinions about some1 re influenced strongly by propaganda.
I'm sure everyone including myself think that she's the most beautiful,the most fashionable and the most elegangt individual we know but I tell you the fist time I saw her she neither looked beautiful nor elegant not just to me but also to my colleagues(I later asked them and all of them said that she looked quiet ordinary).the only thing that caught my eyes was how she looked thin,rather like a human skeleton!
we were not told who she's so I just thught it was another rich women coming to donate,,although she didnt look wealthy at all!!!!!!!
to be fair I have to say that she really looked kind or at least tried to be kind and warm.
my dad was in US at the time and he told me about her visit(newspapers here never write about royalties)I was surprised to I find out that she was Jordan's queen,I didnt know jordan had a queen,I knew about malik Abdullah but I always thought his wife must be covered in veil from top to tows like arab ladies I'd seen before,anyway later I serached the web to know more about her and again I was surprised by the way she dressed and other's opinions about her,the first time I read she's pretty my eyebrows were raised but nowadays after a year reading more that 1000 times that she's beautiful she looks beautiful and elegant to me too!
about her work I cant say that she's done nothing for Jordan but I dont think of her as a hardworking queen,I can say that she could have done things in a better way.I cant believe she is engaged to work with the list Baliqis has given,that's too much and impossible for one person to do so much,isnt it the propaganda that I was telling?if she's realy done that much so why are the the poverty and cultural problems like honor killing rising everyday in jordan?where's the result of that much work?
as I said before if she's done so much for jordan it's because jordanian have given so much,I'm sure if she was the queen of our country she'd be in exile by now,and I hope such a thing never lands on her.

Cute_girl, I'm curious as to why you don't think Rania isn't capable of having more than one project that she patronizes? It's interesting that I have read that Rania could do more, not saying you said it in particular, but what more can she do? What is that she isn't doing that she could be doing? I mean people will disagree, and that's fine, but by reading some posts, it would make it seem that outside of her physical appearance, there is nothing more to Rania, and I'm sorry, I would have to disagree.

I don't think you can call it just propaganda. If that were the case, Queen Rania wouldn't have been honoured for her work as she has been. She has been given 2 prestigious honours/awards. They are not given out to just anybody.

The first one that I am going to mention is the German Media Prize. Queen Rania was awarded this alongside Queen Silvia of Sweden for the year 2002. The awards ceremony took place in early 2003. Both queens were the first women to be given the prize. Notable recipients in the past were Nelson Mandela and King Hussein in 1998. Now Queen Silvia has had 3-4 decades of hard work behind her, whereas Queen Rania was at the time only a queen for about 3-4 years. This gives you an indication of the kind of impact Queen Rania has had. This is not just me trumpeting her and her causes.

--------------------------------------------
A small article from Hello, just to give you an idea:

10 FEBRUARY 2003
Queen Rania of Jordan has been awarded the German Media Prize for her efforts to promote understanding between cultures. Queen Silvia of Sweden was also honoured at the ceremony in Baden Baden, for her work to draw attention to human rights issues.

The prestigious prize is presented annually to world leaders who achieved press coverage of unusual importance. The two queens are the first women to receive the award in its 11-year history.

In a reference to the fall of the Berlin Wall, Queen Rania praised Germany for having the "courage and resolve" to bring down boundaries of separation.

"At a time when many are immobilized by fear, vulnerability or sheer cynicism, you the media are relentless in your determination to report and document the daily stories of our common humanity," she told an audience of over 600 political, business and media leaders.

She also said that while globalisation has bridged borders between civilizations, it has also been used to the advantage of those she described as "perpetually narrow-minded."

Now the second award given to Queen Rania was the Ambrogino d'Oro Award, the most prestigious prize awarded by the city of Milan, Italy. It was given to her in September 2002 for her role in promoting dialogue between people and portraying an accurate image of Islam in the West.

If Queen Rania's work was not notable, if she hadn't made an impact on today's world, she would not have been recognized in such a way. So I think it is fine for some of you to hold the views you do, we are all entitled to our views, but I think the information is out there if you want to look for it and see it with open eyes.

Actually, sommone, I believe monamona’s reason for creating this thread was different than the reason why Balquis created the other one. Monamona started this thread to give people who believe Rania is a hardworking queen a chance to defend that position, and also to give others a chance to say they don't agree. That way, people can go to Balquis' thread to talk about Rania's work in a postive way if they want to, and this one to express a different point of view. Correct me if I’m wrong monamona. Unfortunately, the title of this thread was changed to one that did not reflect monorama’s original intention in an attempt to make this thread more like the one created by Balquis.

Thank you for the explanation. Hello as well.
Why would anyone feel the need to defend what Rania has done...The information is available if one doesn't believe what has been written here, or if there is a sincere interest in finding out.

Sommone, to answer your question. I think this thread is specifically about Queen Rania and her work, while the other thread is for posting articles and anything about the Queen, not just her work. The fact that we end up talking about it there a bit is just because the topic has been raised by one of the articles.

Sommone, to answer your question. I think this thread is specifically about Queen Rania and her work, while the other thread is for posting articles and anything about the Queen, not just her work. The fact that we end up talking about it there a bit is just because the topic has been raised by one of the articles.

Hi back=) First I’d like to apologize to Balqis for misspelling their username.

“Why would anyone feel the need to defend what Rania has done...”

I don’t know why. The only thing I can think of is that Rania appears to be a divisive and controversial figure. Whatever important things Rania may or may not have done as a queen of Jordan, people seem to react to her on a gut level. I’ve gathered that just by reading some of the strong feelings expressed on this forum. And it’s not just one or two people.

“The information is available if one doesn't believe what has been written here, or if there is a sincere interest in finding out.”

I agree. People who simply haven’t formed an opinion about Rania because they don’t know much about her should look into it to see what she’s all about. Balqis’ posts seem to be a good place to start. I admit I haven’t read Balqis' posts in depth, but I will do so before making any public comments about Rania’s work.

In any case, monamona and Balqis are both entitled to their respective opinions. By starting this, albeit, rather facitiously-titled thread, monamona was simply exercising her right to express herself.

I agree, people are entitled to expressing their opinions, and far be it for me to enfringe on anyone's rights here. I was just wondering why would there be a need to defend what's already in black and white. I guess it is just a matter of opinion though. Now, if one feels that what has been done isn't enough, and more could be done, then that is a different story. Plus people are right to question things...

Larry King asked Noor if she had "taken up the mantle from the late Princess Diana re: landmines" and she said "well, not really; I was involved via our Red Crescent in this issue before her death but thought it was an excellent use of her tremendous visibility to bring great attention to this horrible issue." So, I don't know how long she was involved but she continues to be--many of her speeches and appearances focus on landmines. I always wondered--given her close relationship with the Clintons--what got in the way of the US speeding up ratification of the "Ottawa accords" which would mean the US would cease production of landmines before 2008--the date they had committed to previously. I suppose its politics--and the Senate and House of Representatives had to be persuaded too. She is very passionate about the issue though.....and, yes, I too wondered if it was too political or controversial for a Queen of Jordan--but it appears it is not.

Quote:

Originally Posted by susan alicia

yes, I was wrong about the landmines, thought that landmines were too political an issue for a queen and then found that Noor was already active while being one:

Jordan Times

Sunday, July 12, 1998

Queen: Jordan to sign Ottawa anti-landmines convention

By Hind-Lara Mango

AMMAN — Her Majesty Queen Noor yesterday announced that Jordan will sign the 1997 Ottawa Convention prohibiting the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel (AP) landmines, becoming the 128th country to do so.
Rania is probably leaving this to Noor since she started it.

from posting balqis:

The landmines has been taken up by Queen Noor. She probably got involved from my memory around late 1997 and early 1998 when she was still Jordan's First Lady. As Queen Noor is already involved in the landmines issue, Queen Rania probably didn't want to infringe on that and I think most people would say Queen Noor has done an excellent job in that area since Princess Diana's death. Queen Rania has supported the Red Cross and the Red Crescent, which also deals with this particualr issue of landmines quite vocally. She has attended fundraising events in Britain for the Red Cross and spoken at the first plenary meeting session of the 28th International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent in Geneva in December 2003. I actually have that speech and will upload it to the Articles and Speeches thread we have going."
[/QUOTE][/QUOTE]

Honour guest/adviser/president/etc in associations/organizations is selected by the members/board; and the nominations are accompanied by information about the nominee that reflects some criteria like:- The nominee should have been active for some years (ex. 10-20 years).- Suitability and how personable he/she is.- Popularity. - International recognition.- Contribution: man/woman who may not have a high public profile, but who has made a personal contribution to the region …- Someone whose life shows purpose and expresses principles widely accepted in the community …- ...

Each association/organization has its own criteria, and often it doesn’t include all what was listed above.

For instance most of the royals didn’t make long studies, brilliant and long career in any specific field (apart from politic), and they didn’t publish studies or write books in any social/scientific/etc field.So, when an organization asks a MRF (member of a royal family) to be a guest of honour (or whatever) I believe it’s because of royals popularity (like Hollywood stars in charities) and some international recognition … than because he/she was active on the field for 10-20 years and past contribution.

Plus of that, I don’t believe one individual can work hard, effective and simultaneously for many organizations. The real & hard work is done by people paid for a very specific job and they spend minimum 8 hours per day working.

One thing more,instead of just listing associations/organizations to which Rania belongs to, I love to knowher achievementsif there are any… andmainly in her country.Thanks.

I don’t believe one individual can work hard, effective and simultaneously for many organizations. The real & hard work is done by people paid for a very specific job and they spend minimum 8 hours per day working.

Many royals actually do work as patrons, presidents etc. of a few organizations. If it's an organization especially that they have started themselves, like Prince Charles and his Prince's Trust, or in the case of the Jordan River Foundation for Queen Rania, there would be a lot of work to be done. Of course there are people in the organization who contribute enormously to its success, but that doesn't have to necessarily mean that the royal does nothing. There are meetings behind-the-scenes, brainstorming sessions, planning and an active participation if not leadership of the organization for the royal, that means decision-making, research etc. etc. You think royals do not work 8 hours a day? Sometimes it is even more when you include into the mix ceremonial and national events. Sure some royals are patrons of charities and organizations only. Queen Elizabeth has a huge number I believe and it's a prestigious thing for the charities to have her name associated with them, but there's no indication that Queen Rania follows that route. From what I've seen she is active in all the organizations she has taken on.

Her achievements in Jordan?
Creating the Child Safety programme back in 1998 would be one. This has been mentioned in articles a lot. Before Queen Rania came on the scene and started to be involved with the issue of child abuse, it was a taboo subject in Jordan. Now it is being tackled head on and talked about quite openly. The first conference in the ME region on the issue of child abuse and neglect opened in Amman in March 2004.

The opening of Dar Al-Aman would be another achievement. It is a center for abused and neglected children, without the Queen's active involvement in the issue something like that existing in Jordan would have taken years.

Queen Rania has been vocal about Arab women and their role in society. One of the main projects Queen Rania is spearheading is Arab media in support of women's issues. A media campaign was launched last year, aimed at changing perceptions and stereotypes affecting Arab women.

Both the King and Queen have launched a nationwide initiative to introduce computers and Information Technology into schools across Jordan, and to incorporate their use into the educational system.

There's a first interactive children’s museum that's about to be opened in 2006. The idea came from the Queen Rania herself, as part of her deep interest in early childhood development.

I know even Presidents who are elected in democratic countries have assistants and others who follow subjects/issues with great details. Earlier or later, the president discusses subjects with them and because of his/her great brain, his/her contributions to the decision-taking is major.

And instead of speaking about the president all the time, the media gives great attention to what assistants/ministers do.

In my previous messages I wanted to point out that no one can do everything … the same for kings/queens … but unfortunately the local media love to mention only king/queen names whenever they speak about any project of any kind. This doesn’t happen in democratic countries, since the real change & progress happen because of the existence of laws/policies approved by parliaments/governments/associations/etc.

Thanks Balqis for answering to my question about Rania achievements …
To me what you mentioned are some kind of policies that's take population/politicians attention ... which are very important ... but what is done (at the level of laws/budgets) besides creating those associations?
What I know if there is no law/money ... there is nothing.
Thanks

who returns the actions of the queen rania, the press of her country the majority of the time, is the liberty of the press exists in jordanie, can a journalist criticize the royal activities without risking the jail
maybe the queen makes good work, maybe not, how to know that if the liberty to inform is not guaranteed